Application Migration Service for Toxicology Lab

INTEQ is a specialised provider in design and development of customised laboratory information systems for toxicology labs. We offer professional services to assist labs migrate from legacy systems to new age technologies.

Blended Off-Shore & On-Shore Model

Will bring in an on-site project manager with expertise in Pick Basic

T & M contract but pay for only productive hours

Phased Implementation

Manage Knowledge Transfer

Ensure proper training procedures and testing to ensure that quality resources are working on the project

Early low risk maintenance requests and expanding to maintaining and enhancing the full suite

Keep about key existing resources intact to ensure continuity

Step

Description

Benefits

Assessment

Finalize inventory

Define core functions

Rectify migration inventory eliminating unused functions

Finalize inventory

Define core functions

Rectify migration inventory eliminating unused functions

Planning

Identify key constraints

Identify migration deliverables

Develop project plan

Detailed project schedule

Document templates

Reverse Engineering

Identify application architecture

Identify data architecture

Identify key business rules

Existing design documents

Existing validation rules

Detailed Design

Develop new data model

Develop new object classes/hierarchy

Verify design feasibility

Develop new data model

Develop new object classes/hierarchy

Verify design feasibility

Migration

Migrate to .NET

Implement core features

Migrate data to new data model

Migrated modules

Bug report

Testing

Develop regression test database

Code review

Unit test

Regression test bed

Test plans

Code review results

Unit test results

Validation

Independent (Alpha) test

Interface & stress test

Functional test against business rules

Independent (Alpha) test

Interface & stress test

Functional test against business rules

Deployment

Parallel operations

Recovery tests

Performance assessment

Assess usability

Deploy migrated application

Beta test plan

Security validation

Test results

Deployment plan

Project sunset review

Step

Description

Benefits

Assessment

The existing system is inventoried and serves as the baseline for migration. Initial assessment will also include formalizing core requirements such as security, key work flow changes

Helps establish the baseline for migration and helps identify functions those are not required for migration

Planning

Establish the detailed deliverables and milestones based on the initial project plan and design strategy

Provides a refinement of the high level project plan submitted during the proposal phase

Reverse Engineering

Establish the existing application architecture, data model and business rules that are implemented

Provides documentation that will help in future enhancements and comply with regulatory requirements

Detailed Design

In this phase the new object architecture, data models and interface architecture is developed along with prototypes to identify user requirements. Key interfaces are also prototyped to ensure inter-operability

Provides clear visibility on the target system with prototypes helping solidify user interface changes
The planned platform is tested for ensuring the feasibility of migration

Migration

The existing system is migrated and ported to the new platform module by module

The incremental migration reduces the risk of failure

Testing

A regression test bed that can test the business rules and interfaces will be developed and used as the baseline for testing

As each module is migrated code review and unit testing ensure program correctness and reduces defects during the validation phase

Validation

In addition to design reviews and prototypes which involve the users throughout the migration lifecycle, the validation step involves full testing of functionality against business rules, stress testing and verification of all SLAs

The validated system is tested by users using the use cases. The system will also be tested for performance and availability as part of parallel operations ensuring that the migrated system has retained all operational functionality

User testing and parallel operations reduce the risk of errors during production use

The existing ERP system for a major toxicology laboratory was custom developed in the early nineties using an older client server platform. It was not meeting the company's current business requirements. The company could easily triple their business volume, but were limited by antiquated technology. Attempts to customize a popular ERP package had cost over 2 million dollars but had totally failed to meet user requirements. Eventually this package was abandoned and inteq was asked to provide a solution. The goal of this study was to analyze and assess the existing ERP system, assess the preparedness to respond to future changes in business such as supporting new market requirements for clinical testing and support of the needs of other laboratories.

The specific areas studied in the assessment included the feasibility of a platform that is technologically current, easily maintainable and has the ability to easily grow and interface with a host of other customer information systems eliminating double entry, provide efficiencies in managing throughput, and better quality. Other objectives of the technology study was to enable management to have a real-time dashboard of performance, integrating financial, operational and customer information. The study recommended to include a data-warehouse that is seamlessly integrated with day-to-day operations to support data mining and trending.

To help implement the phases, inteq adopted its established on-shore/off-shore model. The on-shore work included developing the requirements and aligning it with the laboratory process. On-shore work was performed by inteq has strong understanding of the healthcare market and a solid expertise in HIPAA and other compliance regulations (21 CFR Part 11). inteq Corporation and technical analysts helped develop the RFP, the contract and quality acceptance criteria for the deliverables. They provided a fixed fee estimate and schedule. The critical aspect of the proposal was well articulated deliverables with quality acceptance criteria.

While the laboratory's CIO had complete management oversight, inteq Corporation maintained and tracked the deliveries from a cost, schedule, risk and quality perspective. The customer had the assurance of on-site management, cost efficient off-shore development and exchange moderators who oversees the service providers performance. The key success factors were: well defined requirements, well defined work-breakdown structure, project status tracking, independent quality assurance, and acceptance criteria tied to each deliverable.

inteq helped the laboratory save over 50% in total project costs using a blended off-shore/on-shore model. The laboratory has decided to use this blended global delivery model for other projects and has engaged inteq as their primary partner in designing, developing and maintaining their IT systems